Serbia: Museum Exhibits 2016

Every year Serbian Post have edition Museum Exhibits. Topic for this year is stećak (plural stećci). Stećak is the name for monumental medieval tombstones that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in what are today Croatia (4,400), Montenegro (3,500), and Serbia (4,100), at more than 3,300 odd sites with over 90% in poor condition.

Appearing in the mid 12th century, with the first phase in the 13th century, the tombstones reached their peak in the 14th and 15th century, before disappearing during the Ottoman occupation in the very early 16th century. The epitaphs on them are mostly written in Cyrillic alphabet.Stećaks was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

Their most remarkable feature is their decorative motifs, many of which remain enigmatic to this day; spirals, arcades, rosettes, vine leaves and grapes, lilium, stars (often six-pointed) and crescent moons are among the images that appear. Figural motifs include processions of deer, horse, dancing the kolo, hunting, chivalric tournaments, and, most famously, the image of the man with his right hand raised, perhaps in a gesture of fealty.

Release date for this fantastic stamps is 3rd November 2016.